Oh and I might have to delay issue 6 for a month or two as its a bit busy at work lately.

So far the draft list of contents is:

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Old Empires  The Scribes GuildAlternate Dimensions Presents: The Dragon Empire of UntherAlternate Dimensions Presents: The Science of DivinityAlternate Dimensions Presents: The Time of DragonsLaerakond: The Sea of CorynactisAlternate Dimensions Presents: Chessenta  The Empire of TchazzarAlternate Dimensions Presents: The Free Republic of Unther

It's a bit of a mish mash between old empires and dragon based articles. It will also include the usual rulesword, Knights Below, and other regular articles. If I can finish these and the brotherhood of the griffon write-up by the end of September then it will be released on time as normal.

I have made a decision to drop a number of articles (Rulesword, and other mechanics related articles), because i am working on my own version of the d20 rules and want to focus on that.

I also have a new background and some artwork so i am considering revision all previous issues to include this (although that is months away).

The question is would people prefer i remove the old issues and release the revised ones in their place, or should i release a new "Deluxe" version of the old issues that allows me to go through and add extra pieces into previous work (expanding previous articles to include more information as well as the new drawings).

I like to keep busy and i have been gradually house ruling the native 3.5/pathfinder rules over the past 5 years until it got to the point that it was a separate system in its own right. Now i am just writing the rules up in an official nature and working through a few conundrums that had bothered me in the past.

Its hopefully quicker than normal D20 (the number of dice rolls required should be roughly halved), i have never had a combat go beyond 6 rounds so far, and thats including against cave trolls and a horde of 50 gibberlings without any area effect spells.

I'm currently writing out the combat rules and codifying the class options (the term class is much broader now since each class has almost a hundred abilities to choose from at each level. The biggest change is to bards which now have to memorise spells instead of them being innate like a sorcerer.

Its mostly about freedom to customise. You can have a bard or ranger or paladin with 20 levels of spellcasting ability (so they can cast 9th level spells) but he will not be able to do much else and he will never be as good at spellcasting as a wizard, cleric or druid, but he can do it if he wants (also there are only 3 spell lists - wizard, cleric, druid)

The fighter can specialise in any number of weapons and armour, give himself huge amounts of hit points and become nigh invulnerable to fortitude effects, but he cant master them all, he must choose.

The paladin has given me the most grief and i have merged it with a knight into a warrior of the code. They are any lawful alignment and must follow a strict code of behaviour (although that code can vary) and they have access to a variety of defensive abilities, armour specialisation, inspirational abilities, and divine abilities, if they want. That way a character can choose to be a regular knight in shining armour that inspires people, is a tank and a demon on horseback with a lance. Or you can create a paladin with his channel energy ability, healing auras, and smite abilities. Or even a blackguard that is an evil mirror of the paladin. The choice is yours.

Im working from a much shorter list of classes which i doubt i will ever increase: fighter, ranger, bard, druid, knight (of the code), wizard, sorcerer, cleric, barbarian, rogue.Bards are wizard/rogue hybrids.Knights are fighter/cleric hybrids.Rangers are fighter/druid hybrids.

Of course thats just a simplistic representation, you can create characters with much greater variation than the base classes in pathfinder or 3.5 and hopefully there should be no need to multiclass now just to get hold of an ability you desire (it will probably already be available to your class as an option) and if not you can use a feat to get a basic version of the core abilities anyway.

Not sure how i will get the rules out there. Probably just make them available for free in pdf format like the Alternate Dimensions magazines.

Anyway, back to Alternate Dimensions. Brotherhood of the Griffon will be in Issue 6 available from 1360 onwards.

Sorry about the absence. Work and home life getting in the way as always so i'm scaling back the releases to every few months instead of every month

Preliminary contents for issue 7 are as follows.

Alternate Dimensions Presents: MazticaWelcome to the Jungle: Cult of the ViperhandDeities With a Difference: Qotal Welcome to the Jungle: Maztican Beastmen Welcome to the Jungle: The Jaguar Knights and Eagle KnightsDeities With a Difference: Zaltec

The Maztica stuff has been written in collaboration with T.J.Hild so should be largely compatible with his version of the Maztica Campaign Guide. The articles entitled "Welcome to the Jungle" are written to be used with the Maztica Campaign Guide. Everything else is just my own personal take on Maztica but should work with the Maztica Campaign Guide with very little modification.

Don't worry, a bit a absense is a normal thing. I also didn't post to much, as I had first quite a bit work to do, and latter played the Drakensang videogames, and a free The Dark Eye/Das Schwarze Auge ruleset, that came with them.I thinkyou might want to takee a look at the TDE/DSA rules with your project, as they give more freedom with customising. There is also a lot of lore, but sadly, 70% of it is in German.Also, very interesting you will do your take on Zaltec. And Zaltec and Tezca, seem to be the god Tezcatlipoca/Smocking mirror split into two Powers(I don't mean necersarily literaly). Also, a colaboration between you, and Sethyr, would be awesome :).

I will have a look at the rules although im pretty much done with the theory now, I'm just implementing it in fine detail. I want to keep it very much 3.5 but remove the complexity and scaling problems. I'm also trying to work into the system a properly working summoning system, dispelling system, illusion system, and other things so that they are part of the rules and don't feel bolted on. Mostly this revolves around making skills more useful and part of the system so that characters can do many things without magic, its just that magic makes it easier.

I'll also check out the god you mentioned. I'm trying to Faerunise the Maztica stuff, make it less fantastical and more realistic. I've already got aearee and sarrukh in the prehistory, and tried to come up with an explanation for how an entirely separate race of humans arose on a continent that in theory only came into existence 30000 years ago. Most of the stuff is done with Seethyr, although sometimes I just had to do my own alternate take on things.

The idea is that you could take the organisations, the timeline, the god write-ups, plug them into Seethyr's campaign guide and with almost no work they are ready to go. Or if you don't fancy including the spellplague then they work in other timelines as well.

I'm also debating whether to include a writeup for the Masked Lady and Lolth. I originally wanted to include them as part of a drow themed issue but I don't know when I'd get the time to do it.

And im glad to have someone to discuss things with again so thanks for popping by.

Don't worry, you certainly more constant readers, just not all of them have ideas, or courage to comment.

Also, pretty much all of the Maztican powers are based on Aztec ones, although sometimes split, mixed up, and merged. Kukul is basicaly Ometecuhtli/Tonacatecuhtli, with a name closer to Mayan version/name of the Feathered Serpent, Kukulcan. Maztica(the goddess) is based on Tonacacihuatl/Omecihuatl, with a bit of Coatlicue(I think). Qotal is Quetzalcoatl(The Feathered Serpent), although as I wrote above, his father, Kukul, also has elements of this deity. Quetzalcoatl/Kukulcan is also sometimes conected to the Inca god Viracocha.

About connecting Maztica more, Some of the Imaskari names, are Quechua in origin, people of whom the Inca's were a group of. Although that may tie Imaskari more with Lopango.

About Lolth and the Masked Lady, it would be great to get them in issue 7, but do as it suits you better.

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Also, definitely check out The Dark Eye if you can. It's a great system, that offers a lot of customisation. I think it may inspire some of the finishing touches for your d20 system, if you read the rules. Or just check it out for fun. I got the basic rules(in digital version), along the two Drakensang games and expansion for only 20 zloty/PLN(about 4 pounds), it was a great deal. Although I checked, that this kind of release may be in Poland only.

Alternate Dimensions Presents: Maztica The Watch Lineup Welcome to the Jungle: Cult of the Viperhand Deities With a Difference: The Masked Lady Deities With a Difference: Qotal Welcome to the Jungle: Maztican Beastmen Welcome to the Jungle: The Jaguar Knights and Eagle Knights Deities With a Difference: Zaltec

There are a few articles created from a collaboration between myself and Seethyr. The Masked Lady was developed with considerable help from Irennan. Finally The Arcanamach has provided a writeup of a recurring villain from his own campaign.

As always if anyone wants to get involved with articles of their own, or proof reading, or artwork, or any other skills they have then I would be glad of the help.

If anyone has any feedback that would also be greatly appreciated, and finally if anyone wants to contact me about any of the above then PM me with your email address and we can talk.

This series of articles is very much a reinvention of the Moonshaes, removing the novel events in favour of a much more interactive version of the return of Kazgoroth (which will be revealed in issue 10). Hopefully it will act as a teaser for issues 9 and 10. As such it is only partially compatible with the canon Moonshae material and for issue 9 i will be releasing an alternative Moonshae sourcebook that expands on the life, the geography, and other things pertinent to the Moonshae Isles.

As always if anyone wants to get involved with articles of their own, or proof reading, or artwork, or any other skills they have then I would be glad of the help.

If anyone has any feedback that would also be greatly appreciated, and finally if anyone wants to contact me about any of the above then PM me with your email address and we can talk.

Well I'd love for a few more ideas and some help in developing them so anytime you are free just let me know and we can get creative.

I'm working towards the big project of an alternate campaign setting, this is all part of that project so any time you want to discuss ideas or get involved just let me know. Or if you want to publish your own setting then sent it my way in whatever pieces you have and i'll put it in the next issue.

Very interesting stuff. Although I have a question. As Chauntea is the "soul" of Toril, does that make Earthmother her child, in a way?(The same question applies to other primordials, like Othea, and Bhalla). And what is interesting, Chauntea was once more primal, as Jannath, and only started to morph into her current, agriculture, and tammed nature, after the fall of Netheril.

Well i'm sure i'm in the minority with my idea about the deities but i tend to think that a lot of what is written about them is from the point of view of the deity itself (or the clergy).

I have had a framework for achieving godhood for a while now that has a number of requirements.

1 - You need to have a threshold level of worship.

2 - You need to have a threshold level of personal power.

3 - You need to want to make the choice to become a deity.

There area reasons for these requirements. I measure deific power in terms of experience points. Worship provides experience points. All deific actions use experience points.

If you have no worshippers (or too few) then you cannot become a deity in the first place and if you do become a deity you will quickly run out of power and die.

If you lack enough personal power then once you become a deity you lack a safety reserve in case of emergencies and will quickly run out of power and die (Talos uses this loophole by creating emergencies and burning out new deities - Bane, Bhaal, and Myrkul collected the power of 7 primordials to boost their personal power reserves in preparation for godhood.

The last one is important and is the reason why rocks and trees are not elevated to godhood. You need a certain level of sentience in order to become a god. That is why Elminster and Larloch are not gods, because they choose not to be (and actively discourage worship of themselves).

Now relating that to the gods. The planet can no more become a god than my pet guinea pig can become a god. It has a barely conscious level of sentience (if at all, its just my personal world that has the planet has a complex lifeform so that it can provide spell energy to druids without the gods being involved).

So Chauntea claiming to be the soul of the planet is a falsehood to me, one perpetuated by the god itself to acquire more worship. The reason it has to be false is that when you ascend to godhood your body becomes your first avatar and your divine vessel. When you move to the outer planes (which almost all gods do) then that divine vessel goes as well (because it is you) and so disappears from the material plane.

The planet is still here, so Chauntea is not Toril.

As for the origins and relationships of Chauntea, Jannath, and the Earthmother. I think the Earthmother is that great big primordial spewing mountain, and like Toril itself is barely sentient. Certainly as an immovable object with no organs or brain or anything else biological she isnt going to act in a manner that humanoid life would understand, it would be mostly instinctive.

The Earthmother is definitely not a god for me, she is an ultra powerful primordial type creature. Yes many of the primordials became the first gods during or after the war of light and darkness, but the earthmother (like Toril itself and Bhalla and Othea and Maztica) probably lacks the level of sentience required to make the choice to become a god, they might not even be separate entities.Existing as a conduit to creating life, what people think is the Earthmother (because it has semi-thoughts if you scanned it you might see an image before your mind was obliterated with power) is really just a localised portion of Toril focusing on a specific task that is different to the rest of Toril - After all Toril is huge and more complicated than any other lifeform in existence so why would she think and behave like a humanoid that is only able to manifest a single thought process at a time.

Chauntea and Jannath are deities. Jannath was depicted as a kindly white haired woman, and that avatar remains as the primary form of Chauntea.

Therefore at some point Jannath and Chauntea fused together into one being (probably when the remains of Low Netheril fled to the Western Heartlands and on into the Dragon Reach where it either encountered the Talfir pantheon (unlikely since i reckon the Talfir once lived in the Netheril basin and so donated their gods to the migrant Netherese that moved in a while before Seventon was born - the sarrukh were known to keep human slaves after all), or the remnants of Jhaamdath (not all of which would be from Jhaamdath since that empire was large and contained at least two separate peoples (Jhaamdathi and Turami).

So assuming Jannath was Netherese and Chauntea was Jhaamdathi (or Talfir, it doesnt really matter). Then when the two peoples occupied the same space you have a joining of pantheons. It is written that two deities above demi-power status with the same portfolios cannot exist within the same pantheon. It is my feeling that when pantheons overlap in an area the region becomes contested until only one set of gods remains (as we are still seeing in Chessenta today).

Therefore either the two deities battled (unlikely given their peaceful nature), or their clergies had a few brief spats over ideology and then gradually merged and the two deities likewise gradually merged. Jannath perhaps became a demipower in service to Chauntea until her worship died out completely (remember the troubles that befell Netheril were much more violent and destructive than Jhaamdath - the tidal wave only devastated the core of Jhaamdath, the phaerimm were engaged in a war of annihilation with all of Netheril) whereupon Chauntea absorbed the rest and kept Jannath's avatar as her primary manifestation (although it may not have been Chauntea's choice).

Chauntea may have been one of the early primordials that ascended through worship of the lesser races (why would you not worship a titanic being of immense power).

Jannath with her appearance as a human is either an ascended mortal (tricky to do because without a reserve power level you risk death), or perhaps she is an example of an idea becoming a god. Enough people believe in an all powerful goddess of the earth that looks like a white haired old lady. No such lady/god exists, but as enough people believe it then it becomes real anyway (otherwise how else do dead creatures ascend. People believe in the idea of a being long after it perished and so it is recreated from their belief in what it was).

Of course it could all be the other way around (i tend not to hold the Netheril stuff as canon) so maybe Chauntea was the mortal/idea, and Jannath was the ascended primordial. Then they merged.

None of it really matters. Once you become a deity you lose your sense of identity, which i believe is the curse of godhood. As a metaphorical being that exists in multiple states of reality (you can have up to 10 avatars depending upon your power level), you are shaped by the majority opinion of those that worship you.

Admittedly a deity has a significant level of control over the image and practices portrayed to his worshippers (he can send images, send proxies to communicate, even send avatars) but they cant foresee and control everything.The changes wrought by the merging of Chauntea and Jannath were likely accidental. Who could foresee that both empires would end and the populations move into the same area. Who knows what would happen when two groups worshippers of different nature deities congregate in the same area. Maybe they all got together in a great big forum and had a huge discussion about what their god actually looked like. Then the merged church goes away, creates a new bunch of holy scriptures and BAM, Chauntea is now a white haired old lady.

I hope i didnt ramble too much, and that i actually answered your question, but i like to think that the things relating to deities are a lot more complicated than we can ever hope to fathom, but if you try and imagine yourself as a metaphorical being perhaps you can decipher it a little bit at a time.

Very interesting, although I think Chauntea and Jannath, might been always the same deity, just with an etymological change of name. "J", could transform into "CH" sound, "ANN", cound become "AUN", and "ATH", could become "TEA". You know, like the name Dyaus, became Zeus, and Tyr in real world. Both are probably renderings of Chauntea's original name, probably forgotten by now.